MoscowPersonal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Moscow, Russia. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Moscow and navigate the world using Google Earth Show on map
N 55° 45.156
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For a long time, Moscow has been the capital of Marxism, inspiring some while menacing others. Moscow is synonym to cold weather, but for a long time also to mysterious messages about leaders who did not show up for a few weeks and who then appeared to have passed away already. Most of all, Moscow has of course been the capital of the largest country in the world, and it still is, although the country does not have the enormous proportions it had as an empire. Russia is a country that dwarfs all countries in Europe. While beforehand it was not easy to visit the country, nowadays travel is possible, although visa are still required. But travelling in the country is now not limited by permits anymore.
Unfortunately, I never visited the city before the political system crumbled, and unlike most other East European countries I cannot compare it how it is now to how it was "then". The city certainly has its sights, it is built on the borders of the river Moskva from where it takes its name. However, at this time it is mostly the economic and political system which are the main sight of the country, and especially its capital. Some times, you could see very poor people, often old, living at barely the basic survival level. Especially in the centre, Western luxury cars were parked anywhere and out came young guys who had made their fortune in just a few years. A fortune, which had been unthinkable less than 5 years before. As such, Russia is also the biggest laboratory in the world, the laboratory for the transition of communism to a market economy.
All the bad effects of "capitalism" reach their extreme in the country which has been so much opposed to that very system. And its effects can actually be felt in a lot of countries all over the world. Russians shopping for fur coats in South America, Russian prostitutes working in the Middle East, Russian maffia invading in Europe, Russian nouveaux riches lying on the beaches anywhere. But of course there are also the tourist sites to see in Moscow. Although I must say the city disappointed me in attractiveness and style, I was especially drawn to its beautiful churches. They somehow combine the beauty of mosques and the greatness of churches. And to top it all, they are perhaps even more beautiful inside than outside, with many old painted wooden icons.